WALTZING MATILDA

Waltzing
Matildais, briefly, a song about a
tramp who camps by a creek and steals a sheep. Three
policemen arrive; rather than submit to capture, the
tramp commits suicide by drowning himself in the creek.

Why do Australians
find Waltzing Matilda so
unutterably poignant? I'm not sure, but I think the
answer lies deep in the Australian psyche. Waltzing
Matilda is very much a nationalist
song.

The tramp steals a
sheep; he then chooses to die at his own hand for this
trifling crime - as though the sheep's life were more
valuable than his own. Remember that Australia was
colonised by convicts sentenced to "transportation"
from England, often for trivial property offences;
Australians are still suspicious of authority, and
cynical about the pomposity and hypocrisy of the judicial
and police systems.

Waltzing
Matilda - to me, at least - brings
thoughts of the slaughter of Australian troops at Gallipoli (Turkey) in 1915. Massive incompetence on
the part of British politicians (chiefly Winston Churchill) and generals led to a death toll that hit
every town and every city in what was then still a tiny
nation.

Waltzing
Matilda is sometimes performed as a
brisk march; but I'd much rather hear it played in sad,
almost wistful measures.

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,And he sang as he watched
and waited till his billy
boiled,"Who'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me?Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing
Matilda,Who'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me?"And he sang as he watched
and waited till his billy boiled,"Who'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me?"

Down came a jumbuck
to drink at the billabong:Up jumped the swagman and
grabbed him with glee.And he sang as he shoved
that jumbuck in his tucker-bag,"You'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me.Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing
Matilda,You'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me."And he sang as he shoved
that jumbuck in his tucker-bag,"You'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me."

Up jumped the swagman and sprang
into the billabong;"You'll never catch
me alive!" said he;And his ghost may be heard
as you pass by that billabong,"You'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me!Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing
Matilda,You'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me!"And his ghost may be heard
as you pass by that billabong,"You'll come a-waltzing
Matilda with me!"